Illness and injury affect everybody from time to time, and a full recovery – even with medical attention – is not guaranteed.
A poor outcome, however, is not proof of medical malpractice. Four things must be true for you to have grounds to claim medical malpractice occurred.
1. You suffered harm
You generally need to have suffered serious physical, financial or emotional harm for a malpractice claim to be considered. Even if mistakes were made with your care, you may have no claim if the resulting harm was minimal and easy to recover from.
2. You were owed a duty of care
You need to claim against the right person or institution. Not every member of staff you come across in your time at a medical facility will have a duty of care toward you. Those that treat you generally do.
3. That duty of care was breached
In general, doctors are expected to perform their jobs to a certain standard of care. Doctors who stray too far from what other doctors would do in similar circumstances leave themselves open to malpractice claims when things go wrong.
4. The breach of duty caused your harm
Two things that happen at the same time or one after the other are not necessarily linked. Maybe the doctor did make a massive mistake that other doctors would not have made, but that does not always mean that is what caused the harm you suffered. You need to show how your injury is the direct result of their inappropriate action.
If you believe you may have a valid malpractice claim, then it is important to seek experienced legal guidance to see if you are right and, if so, to examine your options.